Vincents Clam Bar helping fuel New Yorks March Madness-bound teams

It’s their lucky parm! March Madness-bound St.John’s, Hofstra and Long Island University have a secret weapon behind their banner seasons — home cookin’ from Vincent’s Clam Bar, which just started catering for the two Nassau County colleges during the fall term and right before their explosive success. “It’s something magical about Vincent’s,” Hofstra head coach Speedy Claxton boasted to The Post. “I might stop in there tonight, actually,” said Claxton, who will lead the Pride into their first NCAA Tournament game in 25 years. Even Adelphi University just made the NCAA Division II tournament a few months after chowing down on the Carle Place spot’s food as an official catering partner. “There might be something in the sauce,” said Vincent’s manager, Danny Pepi, who, along with owner Bobby Marisi, has been at the Big East Tournament devoutly rooting on the Johnnies. “We were all saying, ‘I can’t believe these guys are all making a run for it,’ ” he added of the unbelievable crossover. Hofstra, which had the longest tournament drought of the four teams, enjoyed a final meal at the clam bar off campus before conquering the Coastal Athletic Association in Washington. “We catered them that whole week,” Pepi said.

“Their blood was literally pumping with sweet sauce on the court.” Pepi may not be pouring it on thick in saying their food is a good omen.It was a regular rite of passage for away NHL teams to stop in before playing the Islanders at their old home of the nearby Nassau Coliseum for luck. “It’s weird.

We have a good record of people coming in, and then the next night they end up winning,” Pepi said. Superstition or not, the red sauce joint is home away from home for the athlete A-list like Don Mattingly, Tom Seaver, Bobby Nystrom and Joe Namath. It’s no different for Claxton, St.John’s Rick Pitino or LIU coach, and former Knick, Rod Strickland — each of whom has their own name plate at boo...